Manicures and Construction Work

I’ve been staring at my hands too much lately. My nails accidentally grew long. Usually I don’t grow out my nails because then my hands become decorative rather than useful, but since I haven’t been sitting at my computer writing papers and chewing my nails lately, they’ve gotten a little long. Then I made the mistake of painting them with some clear polish and now they’ve grown even longer.

Now things have gotten really out of control. I bought a French manicure kit. This is a multi-step process. First you have to put these tiny stickers on your nails and then paint just the tips white. Then you paint over the whole nail with the really light pink polish. In between each step I have to wait for the polish to dry, and I can’t really do much of anything because it will mess up the nails.

This morning I was sitting around painting my nails and watching the workers put in sand behind our house. I know nothing about construction, but I assume that they are preparing a foundation. So far today they have brought in loads and loads of sand in those big trucks that tilt up. Every time the truck empties the sand, the tail gate slams back down and makes a huge noise. Even though I know what is happening, I still jump. After a couple of truck loads of sand, the bulldozer flattens the mounds out. Then the trucks go back and fill up with more sand. In between, though, the construction workers are pretty bored. They do a lot of sitting around while they wait for more sand.

This is how manicures and construction work are alike- busy for a little bit and then nothing to do for awhile.